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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Adios Argentina, Hola Chile!

We leave Argentina exactly one month after we arrived. We really enjoyed our time there and are a bit sad to go, but it's time to carry on with our adventure. After a 5 hour and an 11 hour bus ride, we reach the capital city of Santiago. It reminds us a bit of LA; it is a modern city that is spread out and full of smog. Highlights include: a great view of the city from Cerro Santa Lucia; our first completos (hot dog with tomatoes, mayo and guacomole), a favourite Chilean snack; a historic walking tour of the city; and a fantastic 1 month celebratory meal of chorrillana (a fried egg over steak and french fries) and caiprinhas.

The next day we head to Valparaiso, considered the cultural capital of Chile. The first thing we do when we arrive...go to a thrift store and buy ourselves "new" shirts for £1.30 each. What's for lunch? Another completo, but this time Thomas gets The Grande.

It looks like a rainbow exploded over Valparaiso because the houses, buildings, buses and shipping containers are all brightly coloured. We take a funicular up to Cerro Artilleria -one of the 46 "mounts" in the city- to get a better view of the multi coloured landscape.